Crack in the Matrix: a psychology of peace in a climate of violence

This presentation included an introduction to awareness of personal consciousness and to the strategies employed in conflict resolution, mediation, and peacebuilding practices.  Both duality consciousness states and the ineffable and mysterious non-duality states of consciousness will be included. Duality consciousness factors include the application of a variety of metaphysical techniques including promoting peace-building self-efficacy via meta-awareness (awareness of the awareness beyond content), meta-cognition (thinking about thinking), meta-attention (attending to attention) and the development of “accurate discrimination” as an alternative to (heuristic-bound and schema-based) errors in critical thinking.  Likewise applications nondual consciousness includes techniques of creative flow, mindfulness, contemplative techniques, and observer consciousness as related to the psychology of awe, mystical oneness, sensed presence, and ego transformation.



Ego transformation results in an identity similar to the altruistic personality characterized by empathy and high internalized standards.  Critical for peacebuilding is the peace-seeker consciously experiencing the nondual state where the dualistic ego is diminished (kenosis) and the infinite, ineffable expanded identity is personally experienced. That expansion of identity forms the basis of relationship peacebuilding.  The transformed identity of self heavily impacts the perception of “others” and subsequent relationships with others.  In the peacebuilding process, the sustained neutrality of operating out of one’s transformed identity becomes the foundational process for caring for and acceptance of others, non-judgmental listening, and the creative flow of problem-solving.



Peace psychology is the study of mental processes and behavior that lead to violence, prevent violence, and facilitate nonviolence as well as promoting fairness, respect, and dignity for all, for the purpose of making violence less likely to occur and helping to heal the effects of violence (MacNair, 2012).  The conceptual model summarized here is a directly applicable and personal model for building and maintaining nonviolent relationships.  This model is derived from a Peace Psychology course and from service learning projects conducted by students who complete peace-building training.  These projects are designed to reduce violence, e.g.; school bullying.  Peace is much more than reduced violence, however; data on violent behavior is one indicator of peace (or the lack of it) in relationships. 

Textbooks for the course are MacNair’s (2012) The Psychology of Peace and Benefield’s (2014) Becoming a Peacemaker.  The development of the course was partially funded by a campus Intersection of Faith and Disciple Grant and the course is delivered using experiential learning strategies and is designed for community applications via service learning projects and internships.  The history and foundational factors contributing to this course include an introduction to awareness of personal consciousness and to the strategies employed in conflict resolution, mediation, and peace-building practices (including the Alternatives to Violence Project-AVP) in educational settings, criminal justice settings, businesses, and communities.  Thus, this course includes experiential exercises used to train practitioners of restorative justice and peace-seeking practices including the acquisition of critical and creative thinking skills required to apply cooperative conflict resolution strategies to personal relationships and to provide peace-seeking skills on campus and in schools, churches, correctional facilities, community settings, and in international diplomacy (long term goal).  This peace-building model includes components of creative problem-solving and violence reduction previously discussed including: 1) transformational consciousness (Benefield, 2013); 2) creative anger awareness (Benefield, 2005, 2011); 3) self-management of behavior (Benefield, 2009); 4) stress reduction (Benefield, 2006); 5) mediation and conflict resolution (Benefield, 1996, 1999). This paper focuses on the components of the model that are learnable and directly applicable to personal (teachinging) relationships.  In brief, peace-building skills are acquired by persons learning and practicing overt and covert (thinking) behaviors known to be correlated with nonviolence in relationships.  One of these skills is the ability to operate out of a hypothetical state of consciousness called “sustained neutrality” which is a learned skill  characterized by empathy, creativity, and nonjudgmental analysis.  In peace-building training, the student learns to enter a neutral (nonjudgmental) state for conflict resolution and creative problem solving activities.  In addition, students seek to experience the Source of peace by learning to surrender control.  Over time,  the learned “neutrality” of surrender begins to generalize to all parts of the peace-builder’s life (sustained neutrality). 

Awareness of brain science is important to peace-building, especially regarding learning new skills.  Much of the research findings in social neuropsychology and our subsequent understanding of the role of the brain (and consciousness) in learning processes and interpersonal behavior is valuable to peace-building.   Consciousness and its correlates in the brain include perceptual processing (seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and other senses), cognitive processing (thinking, understanding and believing), learning and memory processing (memory construction and recall), emotional processing (including all feelings), and biological mechanisms related to sleep, dreaming, hunger, thirst, sex, and much more.  Three components of consciousness have provided much evidence that consciousness is a phenomenon of the brain: awareness, attention, and sense of self. (See Garrett, 2015 for details on the neuropsychology of consciousness.)

One of the most frequently discussed issues in the area of consciousness studies today is the differentiation of 1) logical, linear (ordinary) Dual states and 2) the ineffable and mysterious (non-ordinary) NonDual states of consciousness. Rupert Spira’s (2015) discussion of the “new science of consciousness” views the Dual state as the finite mind of personal consciousness and the NonDual state as a form of “heart consciousness” or the infinite mind which is nonobjective experience and not an experience of the finite mind.  Other terms associated with nondual consciousness includes the examining eye, stable witness, transcendence, pure conscious awareness, and unconditional love.  Duality consciousness is more about the content of consciousness, while nonduality states are more about the observer in consciousness. One of the keys to this model is the importance of both duality and nonduality processes in consciousness and the roles they play in peace-building..  Learning objectives in this course include learning new behaviors and skills that are representative of both states of consciousness.  Both states, nonduality (learning to surrender) and duality (learning to control), are required to learn to facilitate sustained neutrality.

Components of “ordinary” dual states of consciousness that are particularly relevant to the sustained neutrality of peace-building include the application of a variety of metacognitive techniques:  1) promoting peace-building self-efficacy; 2)  meta-awareness and awakening to nonduality (awareness of the awareness beyond the “content” of awareness); 3) meta-cognition (thinking about thinking); 4) meta-attention (attending to attention); and 5) the development of “accurate discrimination” as an alternative to cognitive-short-cut (heuristic-bound and schema-based) errors in critical thinking.   In short, peace-builders are required to examine their personal consciousness including their thinking, beliefs, the focus of their attention, and their own self-image.  Then, these learned skills are modeled for and shared with others with whom peace-builders interact (or teach) with the expectation that sharing skills correlated with sustained neutrality can reduce violence and increase peace.

Self-efficacy is one’s belief that you have the skills and ability necessary to learn and be successful.  Self-efficacy impacts how much effort one expends in learning a task, how long one persists at a task, and the degree to which creative coping mechanisms are applied as opposed to ego-defense mechanisms (such as blaming and projection).  Thus, people with a strong sense of self-efficacy view challenging problems as tasks that can be mastered, form a strong sense of commitment, and recover quickly from failures and disappointments.  One of the key ways to develop strong self-efficacy is to have success performing new skills such as those acquired via experiential learning activities and social modeling or seeing others successfully complete a new learning task (Bandura, 1995).

 In this peace-building model, specific behaviors that are correlates of sustained neutrality are modeled by the facilitator in all role plays and in personal social interactions with students.  In addition, experiential (hands-on) learning activities are used to teach specific social, communication, and problem-solving skills.   Most of these activities fall within the domain of duality consciousness. Successful completion of these activities is correlated with a strong self-efficacy regarding learning and applying peace-building skills. Thus, strong self-efficacy is a critical characteristic for peace-building—the belief that “I can learn creative new ways to relate to others and that I am willing to work hard and persist at learning without using destructive ego-defense mechanisms.”  The belief is furthermore that “ engaging in these new behaviors, I can increase the likelihood of peace via sustained neutrality operating.”

While duality consciousness experiential tasks mainly involve learning to control personal  behaviors, nonduality consciousness activities largely involve learning to surrender.  As nonduality awareness increases, students expand their current self-identities (sense of self) to include being a vessel or channel for the operation of sustained neutrality as a peace-building tool.  Contemplative practices, prayer, and other techniques for tapping the creative flow are taught. These choices to surrender can lead to: 1) a sensing of a (mystical) presence or being one in the presence that seems to empower sustained neutrality and 2) a dissolving of personal ego, but an expansion of identity to include unity and shared humanity or oneness. These nonduality awareness experiences and the concept of sustained neutrality serve as a source of  inspiration and motivation which results in more compassionate choices of behavior for students of peace-building.  Personally experiencing peaceful outcomes in potentially violent role plays and then in real life experiences helps the peace-builder learn to choose behaviors and thoughts that set the stage for the peace-producing powers of sustained neutrality.

In similar fashion, promoting peace in relationships requires the peace-builder to use duality-based meta-cognitive procedures to confront destructive and nonproductive irrational thinking and beliefs and to replace them with rational thinking and beliefs which increase the likelihood of learning new behaviors and skills.  For example: 1) perfectionism is replaced with being one with the task at hand; 2) catastrophizing is replaced with data-based analysis and rational optimism;  3) blaming and projection are replaced with data-based accountability and empathy; 4) contingent self-worth is replaced with non-contingent acceptance.  The peace-builder is also trained to examine what factors are predominant in consciousness (attention and awareness) especially when destructive emotional behaviors are occurring.  Refocusing attention and reframing one’s thinking are required for productive peace-building.  Specifically, peace-building training requires one to confront errors in critical thinking such as replacing heuristic narrow-mindedness (such as black-white thinking) with a willingness to use a data-based examination of individual person’s behaviors. 

The following  surrender-based applications of nondual (non-ordinary) consciousness states are important for prospective peace-builders: 1) tapping the creative flow (openness to the flow of ideas without excessive judgment of their worthiness or contingent self-acceptance); 2) mindfulness strategies which enable one to examine one’s consciousness in the present moment in a nonjudgmental way; 3) contemplative techniques which include meditation, centering prayer, yoga, visualization, quieting the mind and silent (listening) prayer; 4) and observer consciousness or detached observation (such as stand-back awareness).   

Learning to tap the creative flow (aka being in the zone) is a distinguishing feature of positive psychology (see Seligman and Csikszenmihalyi, 2000). When a person is in the flow, they are fully energized, absorbed, and immersed in a task (feeling one with the task).  That activity is experienced as fun or intrinsically rewarding.   Other characteristics of flow include a loss of sense of time and sense of self and a merging of action and awareness.  To gain insight into nonduality consciousness, mindfulness tools and contemplative practices are recommended.  Mindfulness training can also be useful as an anxiety or stress-reduction tool, a means of self-discovery of personal consciousness, a commitment and behavior change strategy, and as a strategy for differentiating dual and non-dual states of consciousness with subsequent changes in self-perception.  Contemplative techniques can be used to develop deep states of concentration and for quieting the mind in the midst of  action and distraction.  These tools awaken the peace-builder to the infinite source of sustained neutrality and a change in personal identity characterized as true identity, oneness, unity, and nondual in nature.  These practices (and  changes in awareness) can be especially useful to the peace-builder when it comes to developing greater empathy and excellent communication skills, improved focus and attention, reduced stress, and enhanced creativity.  Peace-builders learn to tap the creative flow and to acknowledge the Source.

One aspect of nonduality consciousness that has been addressed recently is the psychology of awe (see Mikulak, 2015).  Experiencing nondual states of awe have an impact that can be beneficial to peace-builders including enhanced visual perception and facilitation of complex cognitive processing.  In one study, persons feeling awe processed arguments more deeply than participants feeling other positive emotions.  Awe-filled participants were able to analyze specific content of arguments rather than relying on generalized, cognitive-heuristics as much as the other participants did (Griskevicius and Neufeld, 2010).  In addition, while awe clearly focuses our attention on the here and now, but it also prompts us to shift our focus from inward concern to an outward sense of universality and connectedness (Mikulak, 2015).  This sense of universality and connectedness is correlated with sustained neutrality.  Other nonduality correlates include the mystical oneness experience, the sensed presence experience, and an ego transformation that includes a sense of grace received in a state of surrender. 

Transformative (nonduality) experiences like awe, result in an new identity which is similar to the altruistic personality characterized by empathy and high internalized standards.  Critical for peace-building in transformational teaching is the teacher consciously experiencing the nondual state of transcendence and the subsequent expansion of the teacher’s personal identity to include behaviors that facilitate sustained neutrality operating.  In short, the paradoxical, dualistic ego is diminished (kenosis) and the infinite, ineffable identity of Presence or Being is personally experienced as the source of sustained neutrality. Thus, the non-contingent acceptance of self (and others) is accomplished in this awareness of one’s expanded identity of oneness and compassion.  That change in self-identity (and non-contingent worth) forms the basis of sustained neutrality operating in relationships.  In the state of sustained neutrality, one’s expanded identity heavily impacts the perception of “others” and one’s subsequent relationships with others. In the peace-building process, the sustained neutrality of operating out of one’s true identity becomes the foundational process for caring for and acceptance of others, non-judgmental listening, and the creative flow of problem-solving.

The choice  to become a peace-builder in relationships requires three major commitments that keep the student grounded in duality-accountability and yet facilitate insights regarding nondual awareness:

1.  Fully exercise your freedom of choice as a peace-builder.  The more you assume responsibility for aspects of your internal and external environments that you can control, the more awareness you will gain into what is controllable and what is not.  Initial steps for prospective peace-builders include: 1) Be responsible for your actions, words, thoughts, and beliefs.  Apply critical thinking skills to your beliefs.  Refute and replace irrational thinking. 2) Begin decreasing negative global self-criticism (I'm stupid, worthless, and other destructive words) and replace them with specific statements about your behavior (I am learning to listen). 3) Become aware of your choice to be more thankful about positive things in your life.  Expanding thankfulness is correlated with nonduality awareness.
2. Make the choice to seek positive peaceful interactions with all others.  Awareness and growth in consciousness regarding sustained neutrality make this possible.  Initial steps include:  1) Create a positive attitude when you approach and interact with others by thinking clearly and expecting positiveness.  2) Be a powerful listener and observer. 3) Decrease fault-finding and increase finding common ground with all others.  4). Let your needs be known, gently. 5) Generally, be cooperative while assertively saying “no” to all things that are inappropriate for you. 6) Learn to open to the flow of creative ideas.
3. Eliminate destructive and nonproductive behaviors by replacing them with creative alternative behaviors consistent with your new identity as a peace-builder.   Begin by:  1) Learn cue-controlled relaxation and practice entering stand back awareness or observer consciousness as you develop replacement behaviors.  2) Learn from your breath.  Seek nondual awareness and the Presence of flow.  3) Create expectations consistent with infinite flow.

The path of the peace-builder requires three steps of awakening in consciousness: 1) learn to surrender your personal ego and begin or continue the journey to find the peace at the center of your being—nonduality consciousness; 2) learn to control your thoughts and emotions to awaken fully to creative, peaceful options in your social interactions and learn to be receptive to the creative flow (peace consciousness); 3) serve, with others, with peace-building, for all, in your community, promoting sustained neutrality.

 

References:

Bandura, A (1995)  Self-efficacy in Changing Societies. Cambridge University Press

Benefield, R. (2014) Becoming a Peacemaker.  Available online @ http://1drv.ms/1ALNCZZ

Benefield, R. (2011) Creative Anger Awareness Training for Parents—Becoming a Role Model and Facilitator for Anger Management in Children.  Paper presented to the 2011 International Conference on Parent Education and Parenting.  Denton, Texas.

Benefield, R. (2009) Cognitive Behavior Analysis Self-Management Strategies:  Destructive Anger, Poor Memory, and Nonproductive Arousal.  Paper presented to the Southwestern Psychological Association Meeting, San Antonio, Texas.

Benefield, R.L. (2006) Creative strategies for stress reduction.  Presentation to the 20^th Annual Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect.  Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Benefield, R.L. (2005) Creative Anger Awareness Training:  A self-management program for violent offenders.  Paper presented to the 19^th Annual Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect.  Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Garrett, B. (2015) Brain and Behavior:  An Introduction to Biological Psychology 4^th edition.  Sage Publications.

Griskevicius, B., Shiota, M., and Neufeld, S. (2010) Influence of different positive emotions on persuasion processing:  A functional evolutionary approach. Emotion, 10, 190-206

MacNair, R. (2012) The Psychology of Peace An Introduction, 2^nd edition. Praeger Publications.

Mikulak, A. (2015)  All about awe: Science explores how life’s marvels elevate cognition and emotion.  APS Observer, 28 (4), 16-19.

Seligman, M. E. P. & Csikszenmihalyi, M. (2000) Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5-14.

Spira, R. (2015) The New Science of Consciousness.  Transcript of  presentation  to 2014 Science and NonDuality Conference by SAND @ www.scienceandnonduality.com